If you haven't signed anything you're in the clear. The school cannot retract their offer of admission because you apply to other schools. There's also no way that they could know that you apply to other schools either.

That would probably depend on the terms under which the deferral was granted. If it was contingent on the OP's agreement not to apply to other schools during the deferral period, the school could very well withdraw the offer.

If you haven't signed anything you're in the clear. The school cannot retract their offer of admission because you apply to other schools. There's also no way that they could know that you apply to other schools either.

That would probably depend on the terms under which the deferral was granted. If it was contingent on the OP's agreement not to apply to other schools during the deferral period, the school could very well withdraw the offer.

As a practical matter, folks do reapply with deferrals in hand, and little would probably come of it if the OP chose to do so. But it's not unheard of for schools to talk to one another regarding applicants (see BigTex).

So I guess my questions are- are UT grads who can't find employment in Austin generally able to find employment elsewhere in the nation, or is a UT degree somewhat limiting in terms of location? And is it easier to find employment in Austin with a degree from a somewhat more prestigious school, or is UT generally favored, and the difficulty of finding a job simply due to low demand?

On the first point, the marketability of a UT degree (at least with respect to OCI) is directly proportional to how well you do within the class. Folks in the top third haven't had much trouble getting callbacks at biglaw firms in NY or CA (don't know much about Chicago, and DC is reportedly a far tougher market to get into than any of the above). Top half plus a (decent) personality will probably get you into a number of firms in Dallas or Houston, though BigTex is pickier. OCI doesn't seem to do much good for folks in the bottom half.

As to the second, there's some evidence (I'm thinking of the posts of MindTheGap, a Chicago 3L who's occasionally around here) that Texas firms will reach deeper into the class at HYSCCN than UT. Hardly a remarkable proposition. As for Austin in particular, though, I'm guessing that a middle-of-the-class Harvard grad is probably in the same boat as the top 10%+LR UT grad--a good shot, but not a lock. The primary issue with Austin is that it's simply a small market, though not as small as it used to be. IP shops in particular have been expanding here over the past few years (with Fish growing at probably the fastest clip, going from a half dozen attorneys to 30 in about two years).

(2) Do the law students get together a fair amount? Do they socialize at all with undergrads or other graduate students? Are there ... Intramurals? Speakers? Tailgaiting? Happy hours? Parties? Bar outings? etc..

The law students are incredibly social. Being (a) old, (b) married, and (c) employed, I've had little opportunity or energy to do more than wish my liver were younger. The one caveat is that as far as I can tell, the community is somewhat insular. (The facts that UT is huge and the law school is somewhat remotely situated within the northeast corner of campus probably contribute to this.) Events among the law student population seem to greatly outnumber joint events with other groups of students.

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(3) How "pretty" is the city? Can you compare it to some others?

Austin is sometimes compared to Portland, OR. I think Portland's a little "prettier," but the vibe is similar. In terms of appearance, I also see some parallels with Pittsburgh--hills, trees, river, compact downtown, distinct university neighborhood--though Pittsburgh is quite a bit larger than Austin.

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(4) How does becoming a Texas resident work? Can I go to UT for 1 year and then become a resident, and get in-state tuition the next two years?

It used to be the case that becoming a resident while in school was just about impossible. However, there are some rumors that the rules are being liberalized, and that it may be possible to gain residency after the first year if you buy real estate, work part time, or (as has been mentioned) marry a Texan. Most folks aren't in a position to do any of these, but if buying a condo is a possibility, it's worth investigating this further with the UT residency office.

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(5) Do you think you could live in Austin and really enjoy it for 3 years after graduation? Do you know how enjoyable the law jobs there are (i.e. Miami jobs are known to be very laid back, NY works you to death).I don't think I could handle any other city in Texas besides Austin ...

I've been here for over 14 years. I've visited lots of other places, but to me, after weighing all the various factors in the balance (cost of living, weather, aesthetics, dining, activities, etc.), this is where I prefer to be. Without knowing more about what you're looking for, however, it's difficult to say whether my preferences are well correlated with yours.

It should be noted that the entry-level legal market in Austin is intensely competitive. Top 10%+LR won't absolutely guarantee you a job in Austin, whereas it would give you your pick of jobs in just about any other market you could name. This is not to say that it's impossible to stay--some do. But I gather that it requires quite a bit more work to arrange, as well as possible sacrifices in terms of the type of work you do or firms you do it for.

I personally dont want to be living in a place where a school is the center of attention or the biggest accomplishment of the city

It's probably harder to appreciate while you're on campus every day, but life in Austin as a non-student is vastly different from life as a student. That said, Austin is not a "real city" in the sense that Houston, NYC, Chicago, etc. are. This appeals to some and turns off others.

However, the whole question is largely mooted by the fact that there's a lot more demand among UT grads to stay in Austin than there are opportunities for them to do so, particularly with respect to the law school.

All of the adults are obsessed with Longhorn culture? I'm not really sure what this means. Folks are certainly obsessed with Longhorn football, I'll grant, but that's a handful of Saturdays in the fall.

Edit: I guess Boalt "strives for a majority of residents," but there's not a 50% quota, and "you have a roughly equal chance of being admitted regardless of your residency."

It's been awhile, but I definitely recall LSN suggesting an LSAT disparity between resident and nonresident admissions at Boalt during the 05-06 cycle. (All usual caveats regarding reliability of LSN data apply.)

Boalt's FAQ is an exercise in carefully worded ambiguity. Given that they get 6000-7000 applicants and enroll fewer than 300, they can legitimately claim "roughly equal" chances for both pools of applicants - that is, "small" and "slightly smaller." Even though they offer admissions to "equal numbers" of residents and nonresidents, they need not apply the same standards to arrive at those equal numbers.

Bottom line: there's circumstantial evidence suggesting that in-state students do have an advantage at Boalt, but nothing like a "50% quota."

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I believe that UT Austin has an in-state quota, although I can't find it on their website.

Yeah, nonresident enrollment is limited to 35%, though as I understand it, that's measured over a period of years rather than for each class.